A persistent drought and a mild winter has caused a spike in the number of rabid skunks invading the the suburban landscapes of states from up in South Dakota to down in New Mexico.
"Everyone is afraid of skunks because you don't want to get sprayed," South Dakota state epidemiologist Lon Kightlinger told The Wall Steet …

@VeganVegan Re: "Thought this was a story about our elections"

Foxes are a notorious reservoir for the disease where ever the species is found. When infected they have a tendency to howl, foam and bite uncontrollably - rather like the current crop of Republican wannabees.

Rabid angry stinkers attack chaffing US underparts

Whatever.

Most of us who live in rural areas avoid wild critters which are acting abnormally. It's not like they go out of there way to infect anything ... Personally, I'm more worried about feral cats eating rabid bats than I am rabid skunk, opossum, raccoon, mice, rats, etc. ... Cats bite because they can, the rest of the critters avoid humanity whenever possible.

Re: Whatever.

@Rob 5 (was: Re: Whatever.)

Feral cats are a part of the food chain[1] around here. We trap 'em, and spay & neuter 'em and give them their basic vaccinations, but it's rare that we can re-trap a critter. After a period of time, if they live long enough, they titer out and become susceptible to rabies again. If these critters find a bat flopping around on the ground, it's an irresistible playtoy. Invariably, they discover that it tastes like mouse.

Now we have an unpredictable, uncatchable infected predator on the premises. Usually I spot 'em and shoot 'em before they become a problem ... but.

I'm not worried about me & my staff (we are inoculated); rather I'm worried about the kids who take riding lessons here ... they also use our babies as a petting-zoo. An un-noticed cat bite on a piglet (happens more than you might think!) can have pretty bad ramifications.

@ Jake (was: @Rob 5 (was: Whatever.))

Fair point about the food chain. I tried to explain that to our city council (which I'm carefully not naming) when they drafted a dog's breakfast of an ordinance at the behest of one bird loving councilman. "It's nature," I said "cats eat birds, coyotes eat cats, etc." [1] We live on the edge of town [2], next to a big canyon and get deer, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons and all sorts wandering about.

However, I think your concerns over kids getting rabies via transmission from bat to cat to pig to human fall into the flawed risk analysis category that I mentioned earlier. In truth, those kids are probably at much greater risk of harm during the drive out to your place than they are petting the piglets.

[1] They went ahead and passed it anyway - it pisses all over the US constitution and basically criminalises everybody in town, allowing them to selectively enforce it against folks they don't like. I was told to shut up or expect to get pulled over for speeding every time I left the house and a woman who has one more dog than the limit was told to publicly support it or they'd come round and euthanize one of her pets.

[2] On the edge of town but, unfortunately, inside city limits. I've learned my lesson and the next house I buy will be outside whatever city I end up near.

@Rob 5

You are absolutely correct about the low rate of infection. I don't think there are even a handful of verified diagnosed cases of rabies in humans in the entire lower 48 in any given year.

Also agree on the lack of driving skills on the part of soccermoms ... but that's a rant for another day ;-)

Back to rabies ... Rare? Yes. Flawed analysys? Over the general population, I agree. Isolated cases? Maybe not so much. I live on a bat migration path ... and I actually had an infected piglet here about ten years ago. We heard the critter squealing and momma-pig making a racket, I shot the cat slinking away, and we individually isolated the entire litter for a couple weeks. The one that was bit showed rabies symptoms, was euthanized, and diagnosed in the necropsy, as was the deceased cat.

The cat had been observed acting oddly a couple days earlier. So my staff and I pay attention. I've killed a handful of our feral cats[1] acting oddly since, all of which were similarly diagnosed. No harm, no foul.

[1] Before anyone comments, I hate shooting 'em ... but it's the cleanest, safest, fastest, least mentally abusive way of dealing with what could become a very bad problem very quickly. I have a Norsk Skoggcat purring in my lap as I type, and there are a couple other cats dotted around the office, some snoozing with the sighthounds & others draped artfully over the higher reaches of the office. The ones in the rafters are mostly repatriated ferals who don't trust the canines. The WeeGees mostly hang with the Whippets, the Main Coons with the Greyhounds (I don't know why). I can't remember the last time I didn't have a feline or three keeping an eye on me.

Re: Shooting the rabid cats

As a fully signed-up, I-know-who-the-real-boss-is cat lover, I take no issue whatsoever with your policy. I guess that animal is going to put down anyway. Assuming you are a good shot, and I guess you must be, your way probably causes the least suffering.

@Jake RE: Life on the ranch

That was a very interesting post Jake. I have to say you lead a life very different from mine here in North Norway where the environmental and climatic challenges are somewhat different - to say the least. One small amusing moment - I misread your second sentence as follows: "We trap 'em, and spay & neuter 'em and give them their basic vacations". I thought to myself, now that's what I call an employee care-plan!

@Arctic Fox (was: Re: @Jake RE: Life on the ranch)

They way I see it, the feral cats ARE employees ... and the best way to keep an employee is to make certain they are very gruntled. Unfortunately, they seem to get rather disgruntled after the first trapping & visit from the vet ... Still, we keep 'em in fresh water, enough quality kibble to keep 'em hanging around but still hunting, anti-flea&tick&heartworm cat treats, and coyote-proof shelter, should they choose to make use of it.

Pardon the "WeeGee" name for our house cats ... I'm told that can be derogatory for Norwegians (or was that Glaswegians? Regardless, beers all 'round!). It's considered a term of endearment for the cat breed in this country.

I know your country well. I've been all over most of Northern Europe ... My kin are Finns from North of the Arctic Circle ... although many have moved South to between Oulu & Haapavesi. For rather small values of South, of course ;-)

Re: Whatever.

Well, that is true...unless the animal is rabid. Here in Arkansas we've had quite a few rabid skunks, as well as rabid dogs, cats, and even a rabid COW. The rabid skunks have been very aggressive, unlike their usual mild demeanor, chasing people in quite a number of instances.

Seems "Skunkworks..."

Avoid freindly rabies victims

Rabies usually makes it's victims more dosile and less agressive, appearing friendly and even approachable. For example, the only time a coyote will go near a human is when it has rabies. So it doesn't take an einstein to figure don't approach a friendly skunk (or any other wild animal that would normally avoid humans like the plague). Also, a chicken-wire fence (or similar) dug at least a foot into the ground is a great way to control what can get in or out. That, a gun, and maybe some security staff (unless said skunk has managed to get his name on the list)

Erm..

Re: Erm..

Uh ... Will, you've been around here for quite awhile. Shirley you've noticed there are ElReg offices in San Francisco and somewhere in the wilds of New South Wales, Australia (Sydney, if I recall correctly). To say nothing of the heathens in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I rather suspect there are quite a few more of us right-pondian folks reading ElReg than all y'all in Europe.

It's an IntraWebTubes thang ... Enjoy the mixing and matching of cultures. It's the only thing that'll keep the human race from killing itself off. Beer?

"can kill if not treated immediately."

The people who are known to have survived rabies without medical intervention can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and you could loose a few fingers and still do it.

There is a curious treatment of putting a person into a deep coma, which has saved a few.

Anyone who is bitten or scratched, or even licked by a suspect animal, if there is any wound or abrasion on their skin, needs to get post exposure immunisation starting right that moment. This is not the place for details: google will oblige. Anyone who even just possibly might encounter rabid animals should consider pre-exposure innoculation. You still need post-exposure treatment after a bite, but much less of it.

Skunks with rabies will bite then spray their victims. Rabies has already done damage to the brain by the time the first symptoms show and its one of the worse ways to go. For a while Indonesia was losing a person a day to rabies which can incubate for up to 6 months in humans. There seems to be some natural resistance to it in areas where it is common but areas like Bali where it had never been, it spread quickly. The same will happen as it moves south where it will hit some of the Aboriginal communities where which will accelerate its spread.